The Equality Act 2010
Find out more about the introduction of the Equality Act 2010.
The Equality Act agreed by the UK Parliament on 6 April 2010 has received Royal Assent and became law in October 2010. The Act harmonises existing equalities legislation and extends legal protections across a range of protected characteristics and addresses the impact of recent case law which is generally seen to have weakened discrimination protection in relation to disability.
The Act will be introduced in phases to enable people and service providers affected by the new laws to carefully prepare for them. It is planned that the Act will come into force as follows:
The provisions in the Equality Act will come into force at different times to allow time for the people and organisations affected by the new laws to prepare for them. The UK Government is currently considering how the different provisions will be commenced so that the Act is implemented in an effective and proportionate way. Most of the provisions came into force on 1 October 2010.
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (external link) is tasked with preparing guidance to support implementation.
On 5 April 2011 the new public sector Equality Duty came into force . The Equality Duty replaces the three previous duties on race, disability and gender, bringing them together into a single duty, and extends it to cover age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment (in full).The aim of the Duty is for public bodies to consider the needs of all individuals in their day to day work, in developing policy, in delivering services, and in relation to their own employees.
Overview
The Equality Act strengthens current equality law by extending the scope of who is covered by the legislation, by introducing a new Equality Duty on public bodies, harmonising definitions of discrimination and by introducing additional scope for positive action.
The principle aims of the Act are to:
- Harmonise discrimination law; and
- To strengthen the law to support progress on equality.
It will do this by introducing several new measures:
- Putting a new integrated Equality Duty on public bodies
- Using public procurement to improve equality
- Banning age discrimination outside the workplace
- Requiring gender pay and employment equality publishing
- Extending the scope to use positive action
- Strengthening the powers of employment tribunals
- Protecting carers from discrimination
- Clarifying the protection for breastfeeding mothers
- Banning discrimination in private members’ clubs and
- Strengthening protection from discrimination for disabled people
Additionally, the Act allows Ministers to amend UK equality legislation to comply with European law without the need for primary legislation.
View further details on the UK Government's website (external link), including information on its impact on particular equality groups.
Reviewed 2 May 2011